Light, texture, color, movement, expression – I use them to explore the fourth dimension: time. Each painting captures a moment but implies the narrative context of that moment. As I explore the figures in their ephemeral physical presence, I capture a sense of their past and a peek at their imagined future.  

Whether figures in motion or a momentarily-still composition, the transitory nature of the image on canvas gives the paintings a greater perspective, interweaving a visual awareness, a sequential perception and an emotional response. 

I draw on what I see and know, where I live, the places I pass through, the people whose lives surround me, and the people whose lives confront me. My interest is always with people, whether clearly on the scene or hidden from plain sight but leaving the imprints of their lives on the objects and structures they traverse through. 

I work solely with oil paint, mixed with linseed oil, poppy oil, or stand oil in order to prolong the “open” nature of the applied paint on the canvas. 

-Sarah Gopher